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We are excited to welcome Dr. Willie Padilla as the newest member of the Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics! Dr. Padilla, formerly Professor of Physics at Boston College, has joined Duke's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, where he will also serve as the Director for a new research institute launched by the Pratt School of Engineering. Dr. Padilla received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego, and subsequently received a Director's...

David Smith has been named chair of Duke’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, effective August 1, 2014.
Smith, the James B. Duke Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), is one of the most highly cited and highly respected scholars in electrical and computer engineering worldwide. His leadership experience includes serving as the director of Duke’s Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics (CMIP), a strategic advisor for Kymeta Corporation, founding and...

The 2014 MRS Spring Meeting was held in San Francisco April 21 to April 25. The conference tries to cover all the subjects related to material science. The technical program included 57 symposia grouped in 6 topical clusters: materials for energy, soft materials and biomaterials, electronic and photonic materials, nanomaterials, general materials science, theory and characterization, and frontiers of materials research.
With Linyou Cao of North Carolina State University, Joshua Caldwell of...

The APS March Meeting was held this year at Denver, CO from March 3rd to 7th. It is considered one of the major conferences in physics and the most well attended event amongst physicists. More than 8000 attendees and exhibitors from around the world presented their innovative work during the five-day conference program.
I have been invited to chair a session with title ‘Plasmonics and Metamaterials’. I also presented a poster about all-optical switching effects with nonlinear film-coupled...

Using little more than a few perforated sheets of plastic and a staggering amount of number crunching, Duke engineers have demonstrated the world’s first three-dimensional acoustic cloak. The new device reroutes sound waves to create the impression that both the cloak and anything beneath it are not there.
The acoustic cloaking device works in all three dimensions, no matter which direction the sound is coming from or where the observer is located, and holds potential for future applications...

Inventor Nikola Tesla imagined the technology to transmit energy through thin air almost a century ago, but experimental attempts at the feat have so far resulted in cumbersome devices that only work over very small distances. But now, Duke University researchers have demonstrated the feasibility of wireless power transfer using low-frequency magnetic fields over distances much larger than the size of the transmitter and receiver.
The advance comes from a team of researchers in Duke’s Pratt...

"John Pendry is a physicist at Imperial College London who laid the theoretical foundations for the invisibility cloak and superlenses capable of producing the sharpest ever images. He talks about the profound physics obscured by his invisibility cloak and how metamaterials could help realize the perfect lens.
Valerie Jamieson: Invisibility cloaks can guide light around objects as if they weren't there. It is awe-inspiring physics. So why the frustration?John Pendry: It's when I give talks,...

Jeremy Wagstaff, Chief Technology Correspondent for Thomson Reuters, Singapore linked up with Dr. David Smith and Dr. Yaroslav Urzhumov (and other Professors and Industry reps) to discuss their contributions to, and the impact, metamaterials is creating from satellite antennas to wirelessly charging cellphones. The article below originally appeared on Reuters.com, December 26, 2013 and takes an interesting look at the many benefits metamaterials has to offer and the real-world applications the...

Invisibility, it is just the beginning...
Posted December 16, 2013 by Melissa Pandika
"While science has gone Hollywood with Gravity and The Big Bang Theory, Hollywood has also gone science. When Harry Potter first donned his invisibility cloak, physicists around the world famously embarked on a quest to engineer the magical fabric. But invisibility cloaks are just the beginning. Scientists are designing many other materials that are allowing them to make the leap from reel to real.
These so-...

In a recent eJournal, by the Department of State featured journalist Sasha Inger referenced the White House google hang out "We the Geeks" featuring (at the time) PhD candidate Nathan Landy. The webchat series started in 2013 in the White House as a way to highlight topics being discussed in the Office of Science and Technology. The office develops policies and advises the president on science and technology matters. In July 2013, “We the Geeks” unveiled the brainchildren of some innovative...

Duke Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Nan Jokerst answered the question "what will our world look like in the year 2050" and what role the scientific enterprise would play in shaping it. This documentary film asks scientists from Harvard University and Duke University for their insight.
Watch the Full Documentary Below:
Changing Our Relationship With Science from Brad Herring on Vimeo.

The IEEE COMCAS (Conference On Microwaves, Communications, Antennas, and Electronic Systems) provides a multidisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas, research results, and industry experience in the areas of microwaves, communications, antennas, solid state circuits, electromagnetic compatibility, electron devices, radar, and electronic systems engineering. The conference also includes a technical program, industry exhibits, and invited talks by international experts in these areas....

Using inexpensive materials configured and tuned to capture microwave signals, researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering have designed a power-harvesting device with efficiency similar to that of modern solar panels.
The device wirelessly converts the microwave signal to direct current voltage capable of recharging a cell phone battery or other small electronic device, according to a report appearing in the journal Applied Physics Letters in December 2013. (It is now...

"DURHAM -- The future of airport security might be being developed at Duke University. On Wednesday four members of Congress discussed airport security with researchers, a timely visit given recent events. For the past year Duke University professor Daniel Marks has been working on an electronic scanning machine. "There's no need to pose. There's no need to even stop. It will just build a three dimensional image of you," said Duke University Engineering professor Daniel Marks. While the gun is...

WASHINGTON- On Wednesday, November 6, 2013, Transportation Security Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson (NC-08) will travel to North Carolina to visit Duke University’s Fitzpatrick Center. He will be joined by his House colleagues Rep. George Holding (NC-13), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), and Rep. David Price (NC-04), the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.
The purpose of this site visit is to examine the research being conducted on current and future...